A recent masterclass that I gave at the Academy of Music in Ivano-Frankivsk, Ukraine, was a great experience for me personally. I was pleasantly surprised how open, expressive and receptive all of the students were. In fact, I should not have been so surprised.

This program embraces the vision of comparing and contrasting the works of two great bards – Taras Shevchenko and William Shakespeare – through the medium of art song. In this performance, art songs by classical Ukrainian composers which are based on the poems of Shevchenko, will be heard in the first half of the program, followed by a glorious song cycle by contemporary composer, Oleksander Jakovchuk, entitled Song of Love, based on twelve Shakespearean sonnets translated into Ukrainian by OstapTarnawsky.

In the early 1850s, Mykola Lysenko furthered his musical development in Leipzig, Germany, the foremost conservatoire on the European continent at the time. Within days of arriving, he attending a recital of Robert Schumann's 'Dichterliebe', a work he fell in love with. Shortly afterwards, Mykola returned to Kyiv and immediately set about composing his own Dichterliebe song cycle: A Poet's Love. Lysenko turned to the same book of Heinrich Heine Romantic poems that Schumann himself had drawn on. He then composed his own 'Poetova Lyubov' - A Poet's Love.

Three of the texts were identical to Schumann's collection; but then he explored further depths of Romantic poetry, adding his own style, offering a further credence to the word and placing the pianist and singer on equal par on the concert platform. The song cycle became a veritable duet of voice, body and soul.

Feb 13, 2017

With three significant events in just the first three months and the Summer Institute to look forward to in August the UASP is off to a roaring start to 2017. We hope you can come along and join us.